It's BA-ACK! And Goose picked this Wordy Wednesday...
SO I saw this trailer a while ago,
mixed with our library offering free tickets to the movie, and I figured it was time to read Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox to Goose, even though I read it to her when she was a few weeks old, something tells me she'll get more out of it now... Mr. Fox definitely illustrates the lengths parents go to protect their kids, but as far getting anything other than an exciting story out of it for the kids, I think it stops there. I was watching Ricky Gervais' stand up over the weekend, which has been ringing in my ears whilst reading this book. He talked about the horrible lessons that were taught to children by nursery rhymes and stories. Gervais spoke of "Jack and Jill" the adulterous lovers who cracked their heads open and ranted about the message for kids (though, way funnier than I can do him justice! And his "Humpty Dumpty" bit was brilliant).
His words echoed as I explained to Goose why Fox was stealing, which made her draw her own conclusions about shooting them like the coyote's at Gramma D's house. Regardless, Dahl spins such a wonderful yarn, you forget moral indiscretions and feel empathy for the Fox, who on several occasions must discuss the impending death of his family with his own children.
Plus, if any teacher is ever trying to teach the concept of a cliffhanger ending to young children, look no further than any chapter in this book.
And of course, Quentin Blake is a wonderful illustrator and never disappoints. I would love to do the kids' bathroom in a mural of his artwork...
Goose's assessment: I don't like Bean and Bunce and the other farmer who I can't remember his name. What do you?
Mom: It doesn't matter what I think, this is about what you think.
Goose: I hope the bad farmers go out of the story AT ONCE. I like that Mr. Fox doesn't give up and he's going to defeat the bad farmers. I like that Mr. Fox dug the deepest hole--that was cool. He was fast and he protects his kids and the mommy of his kids (and here I'm stopping because I'm laughing that Goose thinks of Baby Mama, more than wife).
We'll finish this today, but what are your suggestions for her next chapter book? Someone suggested the Magic Tree House series. Anyone read them before?
So my love for old movies might be showcased here.
It might be blasphemous, but Marlon Brando’s “Luck be a Lady” is a thousand times better than Sinatra’s.
Who knew the Marx brother’s hijinx could extend into piano playing? This was something Chico improvised just to keep the kids on set entertained and they ended up putting it in. I knew there was a reason I wanted to play piano!
Oh to be on a bus when everyone decided to break out in song…
I love Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, it’s in my top five favorite movies, mostly because of the song to film quality, this isn’t as good as Hundred Mile High City in the opening scene, or “Walk this Land” in the card scene, but it’s pretty awesome
Another Lock Stock song. Robbie Williams is awesome! This is a favorite work out song of mine.
Empire Records was such a wonderful movie. Sugar High was one of my favorite songs, but alas it is not on the soundtrack, what a bummer!
Another non-soundtrack Empire Record song. It has some of the strangest lyric/stories…
This one’s a bit more recent. I loved I this song on I Love You, Man. And what a fantastic YouTube pic, eh?
This one is for Ziggy. He has me listening to Muse all the time now because this scene was his favorite in Twilight. Habla espanol?
What lineup would be complete without Disney? “I’ll weigh you at once!”
I know that it's now past the season, but a couple of weeks ago Goose and I had the opportunity to go to Raging Waters in Sacramento.
It was hard not to call it "Waterworld" as it was known in a former life when I was talking to Goose about it, but I suppose as water parks are taken over by major water-park-conglomerates (who knew?), that's just something you deal with. In any case Raging Waters was a huge hit with Goose, but here's my input anyway.
You have to pay for EVERYTHING! We pulled into Cal Expo's parking lot and I saw a sign saying: Parking $10. I asked the attendant if that was for Raging Waters, as Cal Expo is also the locale for fairs, rodeos, concerts and various other goings on, and he made some snarky comment about the sign not being there for my health. I tried to compose my face into a sort of "haha" look as Goose and I walked by him from the free parking on the street.
We then walked the quarter of a mile to get to the water park. I was glad she was juiced about the slides, and was willing to walk. The tickets were over $10 per person, but since ours were comp, I don't know what the actual total would have been. Then there was the locker issue. $20 for family size, $8 for individual (though you get a $2 refund when you give them back their key). So if you're going with the whole family and you're willing to pay for parking, this is a pretty pricey excursion (though, not Disney-esque at least!)
Goose is 42" tall. If you are under 48" you have to wear a life jacket everywhere, and while I was fine with independent-swimming-and-mom-attached-Goose not wearing it (and no one called us on it, I did see good reason for this rule. So many kids were unsupervised! It was insane! Parents of kids younger than Goose sleeping on lounge chairs in the shade (and if they weren't the young kids' parents, then I'm appalled by the parents of the young snack theives taking from the totes of snoozing adults)!
Until a kid is maybe eight years old, there isn't much to do there as far as slides go. The wave pool, lazy river and pirate cove were our primary haunts. The pirate cove was really great except for the water being constantly circulated, making it a good ten degrees (at least) cooler than any other water feature in the park. Goose had a blast on the little 5'-10' slides, but was ready to go after a couple hours.
In all, I'd say that the better water park in the area is Sunsplash. While it isn't as theme, it has more for young kids to do, cheaper lockers, and has free parking. Save your money!
I have been neglecting everything lately. If I'm on the computer, I'm ignoring the kids. If I'm enjoying (or yelling at) the kids, then I'm neglecting this place. I'm sorry. I'll do better.
Money for Nothin – Dire Straits You have no idea how many times I made my parents get the tape because we’d worn it out. I think they played it over and over again to hear me say the word “again!” as a baby. (I couldn’t find the video available anywhere!)
Dream On – Aerosmith Because nothing says kids’ music like my mom, brother and I pretending to snort coke like Steven Tyler on a road trip
I Can’t Drive 55 – Sammy Hagar Big shout out to my dad!
Water Cycle Boogie – Banana Slug String Band (though Butt’s Up was listened to far more, but this one was around…)
Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting – Elton John Where else would my love for dancing on coffee tables come from?
Live to Tell - Madonna Even though I was in high school when the Immaculate Collection came out, I know you were dancing while I was in Starbucks to this, DAD…
You’re My Best Friend – Queen “You’re my best thing…”
Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio Probably the first song that I listened to that wasn’t one my parents introduced to me. Ziggy knows every single word and can do the whole thing karaoke style.
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite – The Beatles This song is forever linked to Disney;and’s Haunted Mansion for me.
Until it Sleeps – Metallica And here my brother proved he was cooler than me. This video scared me when I first saw it. My brother thought, “cool, snakes!” And then my love for metal arose from his playing of this over and over again
In addition to today being my Grandpa's birthday, it's also Grandparents' Day. I love to celebrate holidays, but I've always felt like this one was pure Hallmark.
That sentiment aside, I've been thinking a lot about those wonderful extended gems lately and I'm layin it out.
A couple weeks ago I was at dinner with my family and my uncle said that kids today just don't have the same kind of relationship with their grandparents as kids of his generation does. Stuff and nonsense!
True, with the invention of tv (ok, so my uncle isn't that old but there at least wasn't cable then) and computer games and the newfangled interweb, there's a lot less activities that kids want to do--Goose is a Spongebob Zombie when staying at my parents' house. And while that sitting around and not talking definitely has major drawbacks, these technologies have totally reshaped the relationships kids get to have with their grandparents.
I get at least one email a week from one of my grandmas or grandpas and Goose said to my mom the other day "Grandma, you should check out my website, it's free". We get to keep in touch in so many ways even if we aren't seeing each other all the time. I send videos of the kids down to Ziggy's Oma in San Diego so she can see them growing up. And all of Goose and Monkey's grandparents have Miis (that's Ziggy's Dad there, Goose likes when his Mii does aerobic dance with hers).
Plus I make sure that my kids get to see their grandparents at least once a week because I want them to know their family and how special they all are. Growing up, I was so close with my Grandma. When I was little we'd go for walks to the playground or gather flowers in her garden, or the always awesome trips to Fairy Tale Town or the Sacramento Zoo. Then as I got older, I started calling her when I got home from school and talking about my day. Unfortunately she was taken too early and she never got to know my kids, but they will know about her, and all their Grandmas and Grandpas, because, like I said--they're AWESOME.
(That's my Grandma, brother and yours truly there. How totally eighties are we?)
It was my birthday on Wednesday and I realized that I'm still a little kid when it comes to presents. I love to get them, but I love to give them, too (Half our Christmas list is done already). So I'm really excited about these giveaways:
Mama of 3 Munchkins has a $500 Walmart giveaway (this would be so perfect for Goose's room, which is in dire need of a new bed and linens, and completely finish out her Christmas gift aka pogo stick!)
A Happy Hippy Mom is giving away a $100 Apple card from The Juice this would be awesome for getting some new music or letting Ziggy finally get his ipod touch...
Some of these are funny, some are ones that simply make me happy.
I Had to recuse myself from FOTC to have a reasonable amount of songs here...Plus, not being much of a swearer, I think songs with swearing are great, so you probably want to refrain from Lily Allen and Mike Skinner, unless your kids are used to it!
I'll start with the light stuff... Barenaked Ladies is a great band and phenomenal live (those Canucks are so clever). Goose loves this song too, and because of it watched a Nova science special about the rebuilding of the Parthenon. This is the smartest four year old ever! By the way, this version was done in the bathroom.
Just the name "Skankin Pickle" automatically makes me laugh. I wish that I had known that one of the guys was in Sac last year, the kids and I would have been there with our lighters!
Here's some silliness for pure silliness' sake:
Who knew murder could be so fun? The background music is just so perfect and it reminds me of my mom (memories, not the subject...)
Ever had your heart broken? Here's an instant pick me up:
I loved Less Than Jake, I think it's safe to say that my dad did not when I forced him to listen to it over and over in the wagoneer...
"The Streets" is a great band and Mike Skinner is very funny here.
So in high school our PE teacher was really into eighties music and every Thursday was an hour long run in the gym, guess what was on loop that whole time? It still makes me want to run...
Southpark appeals to me for those teenage instincts, and I love Clef, this makes me laugh despite sad gang deaths or bubblegoose injuries, whatever that is...
We've been busy. With delivering carpet our stock has dwindled leaving us at a grand total of 350 left (it never ends! But at least it's getting some use). SO Goose built a tunnel with what was left.
Then, if you've never made a tutu before, it might be the easiest thing ever. Goose's best friend's birthday was last weekend so to go with the all butterfly stuff we got her, we made a butterfly tutu. You need ribbon (enough to tie around the person's waist) and tulle (we used a roll from the wedding aisle at Michaels that was like $2). Cut the tulle into 30" strips (or double the length you want your tutu) then do folded knots (the way you tie luggage tags onto your suitcase) and leave room for the tie (we used knots in the ribbon to show where the tie would be). Decorate with whatever suits your needs. Voila! Pretty and fun!
So I don't really have any songs that put me in the mood so instead I just grabbed some of my favorite songs about "sexy time", most of them funny and by FOTC.
This song is hilarious!
Who doesn't love James Brown?
I like this song, though Rod Stewart has no sex appeal, instead I opted for this So I Married An Axe Murderer version--Myers at his finest!
What girl wouldn't swoon when her mate tells her he wants to look at her insides? Gross! (Sorry about the video, the vapors video I found didn't have code)
I actually really like this song, even if the simile is lost on me.
This one was on our wedding cd. And I always pictured this video!
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